Ralph Lauren niece charged in alleged air-rage incident

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Ralph Lauren's niece charged in air rage

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Story highlights

Charges include engaging in threatening, abusive or disruptive behavior

The hearing is held in a pub because there is no dedicated courthouse in the area

Delta cites "an unruly customer" for the diversion

The flight was delayed more than two hours

A niece of fashion designer Ralph Lauren appeared Tuesday at an Irish court hearing on charges that included air rage related to an incident on Monday, CNN affiliate TV3 reported.

A judge was considering a bail application for Jennifer Lauren, 41, the Irish commercial broadcaster reported.

Lauren spent Monday night at the Shannon Garda Station and appeared Tuesday at the hearing, which was held in a pub, state broadcaster RTE reported.

Local media reported that the unlikely location was because there was no dedicated courthouse in the area.

The incident occurred aboard a Barcelona-to-New York flight that was diverted to Shannon Airport. Lauren is charged with engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behavior intended to disrupt the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace might have been caused, RTE said.

She is also charged with being intoxicated "to such an extent as would give rise to a reasonable apprehension that you might endanger yourself or other persons on board on the same date on the same flight," RTE said.

And she is further charged with engaging in behavior likely to cause serious offense or annoyance to anyone aboard the plane after having been asked by a flight member to stop acting that way, it said.

The incident led the captain of the Delta Air Lines Flight 477, with 216 passengers, to land at Shannon, where Lauren was arrested.

A Delta spokesman said the diversion was due to "an unruly customer."

The plane resumed its flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport more than two hours later.

A lawyer for Lauren, Sharon Curley, did not immediately return a call or e-mail seeking comment. But she told Killaloe District Court that her client would plead guilty to the charges, RTE said.

At Tuesday's district court hearing in the Brian Boru pub in the adjoining Lough Derg town of Ballina, Judge Patrick Durcan said that Lauren's case would be heard Wednesday in Ennis and that he would weigh the disruption to the airline and passengers, RTE added.

Lauren was expected to pay bail of 2,500 euros Tuesday.

Lauren runs a business in the United States called Jenny Lauren Jewelry.

Her 2004 memoir, "Homesick: A Memoir of Family, Food and Finding Hope," describes her effort to overcome an eating disorder and related health problems during her teens and 20s.